Chapter 20 – This poem, Pickett’s Charge, focuses on the Confederate assault of the Union Center line on July 3rd, 1863. 15,000 Confederate soldiers marched across an open field. It was a total disaster. All along the way they were plastered with cannon fire. When they got closer they also were ripped to pieces by musket fire and double cannister shot. General Lewis Armistead led some Virginians that actually made it to the Union Center line where they fought at close range with muskets, bayonets, pistols, knives, and even fists. Not enough of the Rebels made it to the other side and they were swarmed by the Union troops. Those that were not wounded or killed retreated. In all the Confederates suffered 50% casualties in the Pickett, Pettigrew, and Trimble charge.
by Christopher Rudolph © 2015
Chapter 21 – Pickett, Pettigrew, and Trimble’s Charge
The Confederate guns went off
One split second after the last
Nonstop explosions
Like one continuous blast
Erupting in the grove
And on the ridge left
Ear splitting barrage
Enough to make one deaf
General Lewis Armistead saw explosions
Yankee turf blown up high
Shells landing exactly where unkown
Underneath a smoky sky
Pickett was in front of him
Wildly waving his hat
Longstreet motionless
On a fence rail sat
First Union shells landing
Came down in the trees
Then in the field behind
Smoke making it difficult to see
Armistead’s brigade was waiting
Near an open field of rye
Waiting to charge across a field
Where so many of them would die
Regiments were lying
In company rows
As if planted in the earth
Soldiers sowed
Shells continued bursting
In puffs everywhere
Waiting and waiting to charge
Toward the Union lair
Armistead saw Pickett writing
What was certainly a poem
To his dearest Sallie
Promising to make it home
Pickett saw war
As God’s glorious game
A chance for a brave man
To honorably gain fame
Longstreet knew all too well
War could be sport for glory
But also a living Hell
Survivors tell the story
Armistead knew his fate
It was all now very clear
He would die today at Gettysburg
He would never leave here
For he had promised his friend Hancock
After many tears shed
If he ever lifted a hand against him
May God strike him dead
And now restless to attack
Powerless to change the plan
Attacking his dear old friend
It was now in God’s hands
Then the cannonade slowed
The officers did stand
Off in the distance
Was the playing of a band
Pickett then went to Longstreet
“I shall go forward sir”
Wordless Longstreet nodded
Silently he concurred
Garnett and Kemper’s men
On the right quickly walking
Armistead’s men next
Close behind stalking
A little over to the left
Was Trimble and Pettigrew
Marching to the other side
Determined to cut through
Now they were all racing
Across a field of death
So many soon to
Exhale their last breaths
Garnett was mounted riding
His leg too weak to walk
Refused to stay out of the fight
He never again would be mocked
Exposed to all fire
Upon his Bay Gelding horse
An attractive target to hit
Sure to die of course
Union artillery opened up
As they approached Emmitsburg road
A mile of men marching
The earth shuddered and explode
To the left still marching fast
Were Pettigrew’s division
Trimble’s right behind
Advancing with precision
“Close it up, steady boys
That’s just fine
Now you can see the enemy
We’re no longer blind”
Then a fiery shell
Flew closely over Armistead
Exploding behind
Leaving a line of men dead
From then on in
Shells began to pour
Raining down like hail
Killing by the score
Shrapnel whirled and swirled
Hot steel zagged and zig
Ripping flesh and spilling guts
Just like butchered pigs
“Close it up, keep marching”
Over wounded bloody red
“Close it up, keep marching”
Over piles newly dead
From the Rocky Hill
Came a horrific enfilade
Shells bursting on the right
Decimating Kemper’s brigade
Shooting right down the line
Sometimes with solid shot
Like bouncing bowling balls
Pins were the men that fought
But still the Rebels raced forward
Now in range of Union musket fire
Yankees crouched and shooting
Situation more than dire
Armistead looked over right
Garnett on his horse Red Eye
Richard still riding forward
Heeding his internal battle cry
All the men shifted left
The advance began to slow
Canisters shot like bloody hail
And it steadily did grow
Thousands of metal balls
Whirling through the air
Men murderously screaming
Now caught in a lethal snare
Armistead tried to push forward
But men stumbled and choked
For an instant he saw the Union line
Then it disappeared in smoke
Then the Rebel line left broke
But Armistead marched ahead
Then the Rebel line right broke
As he climbed forward over the dead
Garnett was still mounted
Waving his hat shouting orders
The Angle wall now near
He furiously urged his men forward
Then Garnett fell off Red Eye
After a bullet ripped through his head
He lay upon the blood soaked field
Richard was now dead
Still 200 men strong
Armistead raised his mighty sword
“With me Virginians!
Let’s continue to move forward!”
Armistead placed his hat on the tip
Of his raised sword for all to see
“Come on boys, give them the cold steel!
Who will follow me?”
Then a canister blast burst
Felling all the men on the right
Armistead and his remaining men
Pushed over the wall to fight
They came down
They were on the other side
Armistead was then shot
In his arm, chest, and side
Armistead’s vision blurred
The sky whirled round and round
Mortally weary wounded
When he hit the ground